Xbox One Mandatory System Updates Confirmed for February and March

Microsoft announced today that two upcoming Xbox One system updates are on the way and are currently scheduled to be release on February 11, 2014 and March 4, 2014.

Microsoft says the February 11 system update will allow for “continuous improvements to the quality of Kinect voice so commands become more fluid and responsive over time.” Learn more about both system updates and what they will fix below.

Xbox One February 11, 2014 Xbox Live System Update (updated)

On February 11, the first update will be delivered to customers who sign into their Xbox One. It features many new improvements – including lots of behind-the-scenes updates for developers building apps and games for Xbox One, several new features we believe Xbox fans will love, stability and product updates to improve the customer experience, and continuous improvements to the quality of Kinect voice so commands become more fluid and responsive over time. While we won’t be going into all of the details of the product updates today, we will be sharing more information soon.

Some of the features you can expect to see on February 11 include:

The ability to see and manage your storage space. With this update, you will find it easy to find how much space your content takes up and better manage your content. You can also control your install lineup and more easily manage your download queue. We’ve separated My Games and My Apps into separate lists, so you can easily create separate queues for both. Now you can pick the order in which you want your content to load and we’ve added a boot progress indicator so you can better track updates while they load.

The battery power indicator is back! You can see it right on the home screen, so you can easily track how much battery life is left on your controller.

And, you will be able to use your USB keyboard with your Xbox One.

Get to your friends list faster. The friends list will be front and center on the homepage of the Friends app. Click the Social tile on Home, or say “Xbox, go to Friends” to see who’s online and what they’re up to. From there you can quickly send messages and get into a party.

Party chat will be turned on by default. When you party up, chat audio will be turned on by default.

Chat with friends playing different games. Party chat will be separated from people playing your game, so you can chat with your friends who are online or you can chat with everyone playing the game.

We’re adding an “Invite friends to game” option to your multiplayer titles moving forward. Similar to Xbox 360 titles, this will appear inside a games’ menu and offer a simple and quicker way to set up your multiplayer battles. Selecting “Invite friends” will let you invite friends to your game and party.

We’re adding “Recent Players.” This is a simple list that shows you Xbox Live members you’ve recently played with, making it easier to stay in touch with people, or add new friends after your multiplayer battles.

Xbox One March 4, 2014 Titanfall Xbox Live System Update

On March 4, in advance of what is expected to be the biggest game launch of the year, we will be delivering another system update to prepare your Xbox One for “Titanfall.” This update will contain many new features and improvements, most significantly to our party and multiplayer systems. Available on March 11, “Titanfall” is a team-based online multiplayer game that showcases the power of Xbox Live, and we will be shipping a new party and multiplayer system that will help make “Titanfall” the must-have game for this generation.